NDP MPs ordered to repay $1.17M, vows to fight

The House of Commons committee that monitors spending says NDP MPs broke rules governing the use of their free mailing privileges and is requiring them to repay $1.17 million.

Conservative whip John Duncan, spokesman for the Board of Internal Economy, announced the board’s finding Wednesday evening.

Duncan said the party’s MPs owe the House of Commons $36,000 and another $1.13 million to Canada Post.

The board was looking into allegations that NDP MPs had sent out 1.9 million pieces of mail using their parliamentary franking privileges that breached rules against using the mailings for partisan purposes, rather than communication with constituents.

The decision came after the House of Commons provided what Duncan called “options” to the board, Duncan said in a prepared statement.

“Today the board received and accepted the recommendations,” he said.

“The bylaws are clear. Members of Parliament are accountable for any use of House resources. As such the House administration has been directed to seek reimbursement directly from the members.”

Duncan did not identify which MPs were found to have breached the rules and didn’t explain exactly how they did so.

Duncan said the House would tell Canada Post which mailings were ineligible and said it was incumbent on the NDP MPs to pay off these costs, even if the House couldn’t compel them to do so. He also said the House would provide information to Elections Canada to help continue its investigation into mailings sent out during last November’s byelections.

The NDP contends that the Conservative and Liberal MPs have ganged up to use their majority on the board to turn the proceedings into a “kangaroo court.”

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NDP House Leader Peter Julian said the Conservatives who dominate the board were acting as “judge, jury and executioner,” and vowed the party would fight the decision.

“None of this would stand up in a court of law,” Julian said after Duncan announced the board’s decision.

“No bylaw has been cited as being broken. They’re not pointing exactly what was against the rules.”

Julian also said the decision abandoned the long-standing principle that the all-party board work by consensus and he noted that the board hadn’t looked into mailings sent by Conservative or Liberal MPs.

Julian was accompanied at his press conference by Julius Grey, a Quebec constitutional lawyer, who said the party would seek judicial review of the decision. That could mean the NDP would take the case to Federal Court.

On Wednesday evening, the board was scheduled to continue to meet over the issue of House of Commons staff working in NDP satellite offices in Montreal and Quebec City. Duncan was uncertain if the issue would be dealt with Wednesday or postponed.

The huge bill for mailing costs could hobble the party financially as it attempts to fundraise for the next election. The total could climb further if the board also requires the NDP MPs to pay back the cost of staffing the offices since 2011.

Though the board meets in private, the NDP tried to make the meeting public by first bringing a motion before the House of Commons and, when that failed, vowing to bring the same motion before the board itself.

The board had previously released an earlier report that detailed how dozens of NDP MPs, most from Quebec, made contributions from their House office budgets to pay for staff working out of an office in downtown Montreal and in Quebec City.

On her way into the meeting on Parliament Hill, NDP MP Nycole Turmel, a board member, said her party had made a proposal to open the meeting to reporters. She called on the board to handle the issue fairly.

The lone Liberal MP on the board, Dominic LeBlanc, said the meeting couldn’t be open because he and other members had taken an oath to keep matters involving employment issues before the board secret — an interpretation of the rules the NDP disputed.

The New Democrats have been on the defensive over their use of House of Commons resources for months, since the Citizen first revealed that taxpayer-funded staff had been working in party offices since 2011.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said earlier in the day that he plans to introduce a private member’s bill intended to increase government transparency, including a provision to make the Board of Internal Economy’s decisions public.

Mulcair called on Trudeau to boycott Wednesday’s meeting, which was to be held in camera, in the spirit of his proposed bill.

“If he’s serious about not wanting it to be the closed shop that it is, where they operate like a kangaroo court, I think the smartest thing he could do is walk out today,” Mulcair said.

If the Liberals and NDP didn’t attend, the committee wouldn’t have the quorum — enough members present — required to meet, Mulcair said.

The NDP contends the staff based outside of Ottawa did not break any rules because they worked only to support the large contingent of rookie MPs from Quebec first elected in 2011.

The staff did not do any partisan political work prohibited under House of Commons bylaws, the party maintains.

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